Knocking a hole in your ceiling can be intimidating. But done carefully and correctly, installing a skylight can be a fun DIY project that lights up your home's interior.

How I Did It: Installing a Skylight

How I Did It: Installing a Skylight

Light spilling down from a skylight can improve the aesthetics of nearly any room. But sawing into your roof is not a do-it-yourself project to undertake on a whim—it can't be undone if you make a mistake.

However, with careful measuring, installing a skylight is doable and affordable. My husband and I recently completed one in our home. We bought the skylight and flashing kit needed for our installation for around $320, and after adding the few other needed materials our project still came in at under $400. That's at least $1500 less than what we would have paid a contractor to do the same job.

Here's how we did it. To see this project in action, watch our videos on YouTube. (Video 1, Video 2).

Step 1: Cut Opening in Drywall

Step 1: Cut Opening in Drywall

After we decided approximately where we wanted the skylight, we located the two ceiling rafters that would straddle the ceiling opening we made. A stud finder works well for this. Remember that rafters are commonly 2 feet apart on center rather than the standard 16 inches for wall studs.

We inserted the keyhole saw into our drywall ceiling near the middle of where the skylight will be located. We then went up to the attic to find the hole and make sure there wasn't anything between the drywall and the roof that would get in the way of the skylight. (Rerouting ductwork, plumbing, and electrical is certainly doable, but if it's easier to pick a different location for your skylight, it makes sense to do it.) This way, if you find something and decide it'd better to move the skylight, you only have a small hole to patch in the ceiling. It's important to catch things early.

We found no obstructions, so next we checked the instructions that came with our skylight to determine its exact size and how large an opening we needed to make.

Measuring from a straight wall, we used a chalk line to mark the dimensions of the opening. From our hole near the middle of where the opening would eventually be, we used the keyhole saw to cut from rafter to rafter (that's the distance our 22.5-inch skylight was made to fit.) Then we sawed along the rafters until we reached the top and bottom lines we'd marked with the chalk line, and used a utility knife to cut the remaining two lines.